James Gunn Compares The Suicide Squad To Guardians Of The Galaxy

Rocket Racoon and King Shark side by side

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Over the past decade, superhero movies have become a behemoth force in the entertainment industry. While James Gunn is a household name for his acclaimed work on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, we’ll soon be treated to his DC debut The Suicide Squad. And now Gunn has compared these two wild ensemble flicks.

James Gunn did something remarkable with the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, making the motley crew of unknown characters into fan favorites. Given his experience with comic book teams, fans are eager to see what he’ll do with The Suicide Squad-- especially given its R rating. Gunn recently spoke to the the two franchise’s inherent differences, with:

I think you know from the beginning of the first Guardians that most likely, in his heart, Peter Quill is good, Gamora is good, Rocket is good, Drax is good.

Touche. While both The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy contain a wild group of comic book heroes fighting together, the teams couldn’t be more different. One contains heroes that fight for good (and money), while Task Force X is made up of villains and killers.

James Gunn’s comments come from his recent conversation with Den of Geek about The Suicide Squad. As the movie gets closer to its highly anticipated summer release, Gunn has been able to share more information and footage. And when compared to Guardians, he made it clear that the main distinction will be exactly who makes up each team. Gunn went on to speak about the group of villains in Task Force X, saying:

Some are not good people. They’re bad people. It’s less sentimental in that way. King Shark is much less sentimental than Groot.

Another solid point from the visionary filmmaker. While James Gunn will certainly put his signature sense of humor and vision into The Suicide Squad, we shouldn’t expect it to be all that similar to Guardians of the Galaxy. Mostly because it’s about a group of bad people, many of whom likely won’t make it out of the blockbuster alive.

The Suicide Squad will hit HBO Max at the same time as theaters. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

While the character in The Suicide Squad will largely be bad people, James Gunn assembled a strong cast of actors to fill out the cast. In addition to the handful of returning faces from David Ayer’s 2017 original, familiar names include Idris Elba, John Cena, Pete Davidson, Michael Rooker, and Sylvester Stallone. And with the R-rating, the various fatalities will likely be especially brutal.

The Suicide Squad is currently expected to arrive in theaters and HBO Max on August 6th. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.